1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a production method and production device for a composite metal powder using gas spraying method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a milling method milling solid metals, a wet method through a chemical process such as precipitation, and an spraying method atomizing molten metals by using an atomizing nozzle after melting metals are used as the methods of preparing metal powders.
Among the foregoing methods, the spraying method may be classified as water spraying using a liquid such as water and gas spraying using gas, according to a cooling medium used therein.
A method of preparing metal powders by typical gas spraying generally prepares metal powders by injecting inert gas such as argon or nitrogen at room temperature while allowing molten metals to flow through an atomizing nozzle. An average particle size of the prepared metal powder is about 100 μm.
Metals may be classified as a metal with a low melting point such as zinc (Zn), aluminum (Al), or tin (Sn), a metal with a high melting point such as stainless steel, copper (Cu), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), or cobalt (Co), and a multi-component alloy, according to a melting point.
Meanwhile, metallic materials classified as various types as described above include reinforcing phases such that characteristics thereof are improved. The metallic materials containing such reinforcing phases are usually prepared through a melt casting method after mainly introducing the reinforcing phases.
However, with respect to the metallic material prepared through the foregoing melt casting method, near net-shape processing of the prepared product is difficult because the reinforcing phases may separate along interfaces and a separate melt mixing process, in which a matrix phase, i.e., a low melting point material, and a reinforcing phase, i.e., a high melting point material, are mixed together, is added.
Also, non-uniform distribution of the reinforcing phase occurs in a metallic material prepared through melt casting including the foregoing mixing process due to the agglomeration of the reinforcing phase when the reinforcing phase and the matrix phase are mixed. Accordingly, there are limitations in that controls of the amount, size, shape and distribution of the reinforcing phase are difficult and control of the size of the metallic material containing the reinforcing phase is also difficult.